Touching Bases Part II
Posted on Wed Feb 4th, 2026 @ 9:17am by Sergeant Audie Fitch & Lieutenant Jayak Zek
Edited on on Wed Feb 4th, 2026 @ 9:18am
3,824 words; about a 19 minute read
Mission:
Episode 17 - Going Home
Location: Zulg's Holosuites - Promenade Upper Level - Empoke Nor
Timeline: MD002 1200 hrs
"I'd say that here is pretty good," Zek told Audie with a sly wink. "I do tend to live more in the moment than dwell on the past. The only thing I want to have to do with the past is making certain it happens to nobody again."
"Well, then so long as there were no great bowling incidents, we're good!" Audie chuckled, not pushing for details. She understood that some things were best left where they were, and there was certainly no reason to ruin the mood.
At the holodeck, she put in the perimeters of what they wanted, and was pleased to see that there was a bowling alley program. "It knew we were coming!" she quipped, then opened the door. "Let's check it out!"
Zek walked in with Audie and looked around. There was a smell of old shoes and oil in the air. The sounds of pins being knocked down by holobowlers rang through the air. There was a balding man behind the counter with tufts of greasy brown hair on either side of his head, making up what was left of the hair on his head. "Need some shoes and a lane?" the man behind the counter called.
"Sure, Zek answered. "We can check out all of your facilities after we get shoes, right, Audie?"
Before Audie could answer, the man said, "Hey, we got some of the best pizza and beer in these parts. Got some other stuff too, but hey, it is a free world, right?"
"Pizza sounds great!" It had been a long time since Audie had had pizza, and all the better to wash it down with beer...she wasn't on duty for another day. "Get us the shoes, and we'll pick a lane...they'll bring the pizza to us, right?" She looked over at Zek. "What do you want on your pizza?"
Zek stroked his stubble with his free hand and considered the matter. "Pepperoni is rather traditional. Perhaps some mushrooms, green peppers, and onions?" he offered. Onions might not have been the best suggestion for face to face conversations, but he hoped that the beer might fix that.
The bowling proprietor asked, "What sizes are you? So I can bring it all out?"
"I take an eight and a half," Audie declared, "and the pizza sounds perfect...well, extra cheese, of course!"
She accepted the shoes that were handed to her, then glanced at Zek. "Let's find an empty lane, then, well, I guess we need to pick a ball, too." She wasn't sure how that was done, but how hard could it be? Besides, a pretty ball with sparkly purple swirls had caught her eye!
"As the lady says, make it extra cheese, as well," Zek informed the proprietor. "And for shoes, I'll take a ten."
The proprietor handed Zek his shoes, red on one side, blue on the other with the red being in the outside of each shoe. "Ever wonder why they do this with bowling shoes?" he asked Audie as he headed to lane 13. There were balls already lined up on the return and he supposed that he would take whatever ball fit his hand that was already there.
"It's some ancient way to keep track of who has a better chance of being excellent, and winning," Audie commented dryly, even though she had no idea. "See, I have green on the outside, that means 'Go', and red on the outside means 'Stop', so you don't really have a chance!" She grinned. "We'll make a go try at it anyway!"
Laughing, she scooped up the purple ball. "All set, now what?"
"You just make things up as you go along, don't you, Audie?" Zek asked with a knowing smirk.
"Is that a problem?" Audie asked with a shrug. "Freestyle!"
"I promise that I won't go into counselor mode. If I did, I would have to inquire about that other gentleman that, I can now, tell so obviously, never existed." He made a tsk-tsk sound while shaking his head from side to side and continuing his smirk.
"'Imaginary Lover', isn't that it? 'Satisfaction guaranteed!"
"Well, as to 'now what,' I believe the object of the game is to throw the ball down the lane and try to knock down all the pins in one or two goes. Should we ask the computer for rules and scoring?"
"Nah, what fun is that?" Chuckling, Audie picked up the purple-swirly ball and stepped to the alley. "Here goes!" She'd seen enough bowling to know the basics of throwing the ball, and was mimicking the other players as she hurled the ball down the lane. It bounced twice before rolling into the gutter.
"Ha!" Laughing, Audie jumped up and down. "A hundred points for me!!"
"Imagination is important, but I think more satisfaction can come out of real beings." He winked at Audie as he picked up a ball and put his fingers in the holes. "Perhaps we shall put the theory to the test at some point. In the meantime, I think you get a second go at it." He noticed that the pins were still up after the bar came down and swept underneath them. "I could be wrong, but I do think the object is to hit the pins, not the long indented things on the sides."
"Oh, goodness, hitting those poor pins? So violent!" Audie chuckled. "Besides, it ate my ball." Then, as she turned to pick another, her purple-swirly-sparkly ball was spit out of a device by the seats. "Well, look at that! Guess my ball gave it indigestion!"
She was grinning as she stepped back to the little marks on the floor and gripped the ball in the holes in it. "Here goes!" The ball only bounced once this time, then wobbled down the lane until it took out two pins on the right side. "Bravo!"
Well, it was a start, right?
"Real beings have their place," she commented as she sat, "but complications, too, right?"
Zek laughed heartily when Audie made her joke about the device spitting out the ball as having indigestion. Her sense of humor just kept him reeling. It also kept him on his toes, which he appreciated. "Well done! You got violent with the pins. Well, at least two of them."
Upon hearing Audie's confession as to real beings having complications, Zek simply answered, "They do." He took a black ball, putting his center two fingers in the top and his thumb in the bottom. He approached the alley and threw his ball down the alley. The momentum of the swing caused an audible pop as the ball flew off off and thudded on the lane about 5 feet out before it continued on its path, rolling down the alley. It hit the 3 pin and knocked down the 3, 5, 6, 8, and 10.
After the pins were raised to sweep away the pins that were knocked down, Zek walked up to Audie and said, "Just like those pins, you can get knocked down from it and stay down, or you can reset and have another try. Now, I can't say that one is better than the other, but it seems to me that one is a rather lonely number."
With that, he took another ball and threw it down the alley, taking out another two pins for a seven in the total frame.
"And two can be as lonely as one," Audie retorted, more just quoting more old lyrics than making a statement she believed in. "Anyway, I'm quite content with life and look forward to finding out what fate has in store for me."
She shrugged as she took up her ball again and loosed it down the lane, taking out four pins on the right side. "Ha! Getting better! And you need to stop worrying so much about my love life. It will happen in its own good time, and love isn't something you should force, or even pursue, right? You should just let it come to you."
And if it didn't, well, she had no problem with that, either.
"I'm not worried about your love life at all," Zek answered with a cheeky grin. "After all, you started this conversation by stating that imaginary lovers never disappoint. I'm just making some generic observations and conversation, Audie." He turned to Buster and stoked the cat while waiting his turn. "Besides, what else would you need? You have Buster, right?"
He told Buster, "Good cat," before returning to the topic that Audie brought up. "But I think you're wrong about not pursuing love. No, it should not be forced because that's not really love. That's infatuation or lust. But, if you find someone that is interesting, if you do not pursue it, how will they know? Similarly, how would they know to pursue you?" He stroked his chin as he considered the matter. "No, I think there has to be some amount of active behavior, otherwise if neither pursues it is a lost opportunity."
Taking his hand off his chin and realizing that he probably delved into being a counselor rather than a friend or something more, he threw up his hands and laughed. "I'm sorry. I said I was going to put Counselor Jayak away and then I got all philosophical. Shame on me." He stuck out a hand palm faced to the ground in case Audie wanted to smack it.
Instead of a smack, Audie took his hand and quickly kissed it. "Don't apologize for being yourself," she told him with a grin. "Just because you are a counselor doesn't mean you can't have an opinion." Her grin turned sly. "And just because I'm a Marine doesn't mean you might not mysteriously disappear one evening!"
She was still chuckling as the pizza was delivered, along with the beers. "Oh, good, all this talk about relations has me famished! Shall we?"
"If I disappear, I certainly hope it is with good cause and somewhere fun for the both of us," Zek answered chuckling. Beer having arrived in a pitcher, he poured a plastic cup full for Audie and another for himself. He took a swig of the beer and told Audie, "Well, it is not quite as bad as Tygarian wine, but definitely not Romulan ale."
He then took a piece of pizza and chomped on it. "Ah! As much grease as on the lanes. Perfect!"
Audie took a bite of the pizza and grinned. "It is perfect, it fits the ambiance!" Then she picked up her plastic mug of beer and raised it. "To friends and staying out of the gutter!"
Zek raised his glass and touched it to Audie's. "But also to minds in the gutter and enjoyable companionship!"
"Enjoyable is the best kind!" Audie took a swig, the started munching pizza. "This is pretty good for replicated. That's one of the bad things about being planet-side, the fresh ingredients spoil you! There was this pizza place in San Francisco..."
Sighing, she took another drink. "What's your favorite food? Not into wriggling Klingon stuff, are you?" She preferred her food good and dead!
"I suppose edible would not be an acceptable answer?" he asked with a short laugh. He screwed his face up as he considered the problem as to his favorite food. While he did not have a good deal of choices during The Occupation, he since had numerous opportunities to have many different varieties of food. "I do have to agree with you regarding fresh ingredients. The flavors seem more vibrant and flavorful, no matter what the engineers say about replicated food."
He thought a bit harder, "I think that a properly cooked Tuwaly pie is probably my favorite. There is a certain sweetness that is tinged with Rekja spice to give it a kick. Too much, though, and it becomes overwhelming, losing its sweetness."
He gave Audie his winning secretive smile. "But you stopped before you told me about your pizzaria in San Francisco. Is that your favorite food?"
"One of them. Audie shrugged. "Mom really liked that place, and I just remember how good it smelled, and how nice the owner was. There was a place in San Diego, but it wasn't the same without Mom."
She sighed, then smiled wistfully. "I like cheesecake, too, and tiramisu, and a good steak. I'm not too picky about Earth goods, just no liver or okra! And you're going to have to get me some of that pie sometime, sounds...interesting."
"More than one favorite food? Is that not kind of cheating? Being unwilling to decide on one?" Zek teased before taking another bite of the pizza.
"So, your mother. The way that you talked about her, you seemed to imply that she has passed away. Is that accurate?"
"Yes..." She became more sober, but she had come to peace with it. "She was killed during the Breen attack on San Francisco. I was pretty young, so I don't remember much about her. Then, when I was twelve, Dad was killed in an accident. I got a little rebellious at that point, but, well, looking back, it's what led me to the Marines...to here." You just had to follow the path...
Zek's smile became slightly pained as his heart ached for Audie's pain. It never ceased to amaze him that no matter how badly someone's situation was that someone else had it worse. He still had his parents, even if they did not amount to much. He put his beer and pizza down and got closer to Audie. His hand touched her free one. "I think here is much better than there."
Turning her hand so that she could interlock fingers with Zek, Audie nodded. "Here is much better. And besides, you can't go back, and it's foolish to pine over the past, you just have to heed the lessons." She chuckled. "I just have to remember that sometimes!"
Zek noticed the signal. His fingers interlocked with Audie's, as he said, "I think that I can give you something more to remember." His free hand reached around Audie's back and he moved in closer towards Audie, lowered his head, and allowed his lips to press against hers.
Oh, well, this was unexpected! Or was it? Audie wasn't really sure what she thought...
No time for thinking! Just do it!
Audie pressed into the kiss, her head swirling, partly resisting, but mostly wanting this to continue, even though she wasn't at all sure what to do next.
First kisses were always tricky. You never knew how your kissing partner was going to react or how much to press or how much lips should part or how many other variables there were to be considered, such as the tilt of a head or stroke of the face. Zek understood this and while there seemed to be a slight pull back, Audie was pushing into it. Was this an adjustment or a mental tug of war?
Whatever the case, Zek continued to kiss Audie for an immeasurable time, hoping that they would find their rhythm, though he had to say that he enjoyed the feel and taste of Audie's lips, even if it was beer and pizza flavored at the moment. He was going to let her find her way and determine when the kiss ended.
If Audie could just shut off her brain and come what may, she knew she would enjoy this a lot more! Not that she wasn't enjoying it, but her pesky brain kept alerting her that this was the beginning of commitment, of meeting unknown expectations, a loss of independence...
"Dammit!" she finally muttered, pulling back and shaking her head, then quickly explaining, "Not you, me. That was...amazing, just...unexpected. Not bad, not bad at all, but I just..."
Well, hell! She leaned in and kissed him again.
Zek was about to laugh or say something more. However, the next thing he knew, Audie's lips were against his again. He was not about to complain. She kissed like a hungry tigress. Had he awoken her hunger? Why had she not expected it? Well, who the hell cares? Right now is not a time to think. With that last thought, he melted into Audie.
This was very nice, and Audie finally just relaxed and gave in, pushing aside her misgivings and going all-on. After a moment, she sighed and snuggled against Zek's chest, trying to gather her thoughts. "So, um..."
And then Buster jumped into her lap and scrambled onto her shoulder, purring loudly. "Seems like he approves!" she chuckled.
Zek laughed, "You did not know that from before?"
"Oh, well, kissing adds a whole new angle, you know. We've just been friends goofing off before now, but things have changed." She smiled, but then added uncertainly, "Haven't they?"
"I prefer to say progressed," Zek answered. "After all, I seem to have developed an attachment to you some time ago. I guess I'm a sucker for a woman that can keep me off balance."
"Oh, I can do more than that," Audie leaned close with a mischievous grin, "I can throw you over my shoulder and hogtie you in under three seconds!"
Laughing, she leaned back and took a drink of beer. "Progressing...I like the sound of that!"
Zek leaned closer to Audie, as she leaned closer into him. "I'm glad that you like the sound of that because I would hate to regress. Though, I have to admit that being thrown over your shoulder and hogtied is simultaneously disturbing and intriguing."
"Maybe we'll try it some time," Audie suggested with a grin, but then she moved back a bit. "Not just yet, though, there has to be something to anticipate!" Well, and she wanted to be certain before she got too emotionally invested, although she didn't know how to judge that this was the 'real deal'.
"I fully agree. I would rather see what the Prophets and fates bring. Planning does not suit me." He reached his hand for another mug of beer and took a large gulp.
"I guess that's a good way to look at it," Audie agreed. "After all, they brought us this far, right? So it's only right to let them keep leading the way." She chuckled. "I just wish they could be a little more obvious!"
Zek had more than his share of issues with the Prophets but for now, he was going to enjoy the moment and Audie's proclamation. "I can't help you with them being more obvious, nor can I help you when it comes to their plan. What I can help you with is this...." He picked up a piece of pizza and presented it to Audie for her to take a bite.
Raising an eyebrow, Audie bit into the offered piece of pizza, giggling so much it was hard to swallow. This was so absurd, but that was what made it so endearing! She went in for a second bite, but was laughing so hard that all she managed to do was get sauce on her nose!
"You're going to choke, if you keep laughing like that. Then that will be a whole scene.... Taking you to a doctor again.... And wasn't he after you? Jekyll, you said?"
He snickered as he saw the sauce on your nose. "And then there's all those explanations, like why you have sauce on your nose." He tsked, and said, "Let me fix that for you." He moved in and kissed the top of her nose, lightly licking off the sauce with his tongue, before simply shrugging and grinning at her like the cat that ate the canary. "All fixed."
"I'll remember that if I ever have sauce on my nose again!" While Audie engaged in her share of silliness, she was usually the one instigating it, or was alone in her antics, so she was finding that she enjoyed having a crony-in-goofiness.
"I'm glad you chided me for laughing too much," she chuckled. "If I'd choked, you might have had to give me mouth-to-mouth!"
Zek sighed heavily but playfully. "Ah, once again, my do-no-harm-nature has caused me to miss out on a delightful opportunity."
"Think before you act," she chuckled, "or not, as the case may be!" Standing, she grabbed her ball and sent it down the alley, only managing to clip the pin on the right. "Good thing I'm a better shot than a bowler!"
"I will take your word on it. I've never seen you fire anything but a bowling ball thus far." He waited for Audie to pick up her ball and face the alley again. Once she took her approach, Zek ran up to her and gave her butt a playful pinch just as she was throwing the ball.
The reaction was pure trained instinct -- In one swift movement, Audie dropped the ball and spun, just barely managing to check the blow that was aimed at Zek's head. "Oh!" That was all she could think to say off the cuff until she calmed herself and laughed. "Marine," she chuckled, "I'm a Marine..."
"Yes.... One that very nearly took off my head," Zek replied thoughtfully. "Perhaps we need to retrain you just slightly so that when you're on a date that you let down some of those guards. After all, i don't get the impression that you would like to injure me when I am being playful."
"Well, now, I didn't." Audie hoped he understood, she was trained and conditioned well enough to assess a target before getting too physical. "I saw your sparkling eyes and stopped short of that lethal blow! But maybe I should get a bell for you to wear, just in case?"
"I'm not a cow," Zek replied flatly before he chuckled. "Sparkling eyes, eh? Keep going...."
"A cat...you bell a cat!" Audie laughed and scratched his head. "Cats like scritches, and then they purr." Grinning widely, she added, "I won't expect you to roll on your back and expose your belly!"
"Then what will you expect?" Zek asked with a winning grin and a wink.
"Oh, well..." Audie thought on that seriously for a moment. "Honesty," she finally said, "just...honesty, and I think everything else important will follow. Oh, and maybe a purr now and then!"
"Sounds purrrfect to me," Zek answered with a Cheshire grin. "I could not ask for anything more myself."
A Joint Post By
Sergeant Audie Fitch
Corpsman Team 2, The Cure
USS Pioneer
Lieutenant Jayak Zek
Chief Counselor, Empok Nor
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